My first film of LIFF2025 is an interesting one. I don’t know director Paolo Sorrentino particularly well but this is a slow paced study of an unusual life. We join the president of Italy, still mourning the death of his wife, and muddling through the last days of his administration. He’s much respected. He’s made it to where he is by being slow, methodical and precise. Or, less favourably, by avoiding taking any difficult decisions. He’s earned his nickname of “reinforced concrete”.
What follows is a character study of the president. We see him bickering with old friends and his daughter, chatting with the pope, nodding away furtively to hip-hop (despite protesting how much he detests modern music) and furtively smoking endless cigarettes on the roof.
It’s thought provoking and very human. Much of the time, I think I’d find it too slow and open-ended but settled into the cinema for the start of the festival, it felt like a good way to start.